Wrapping Up My First Semester in Svalbard

The first semester of my year in Svalbard has finished, and I simply cannot believe how fast it has gone by. It feels like I blinked and suddenly the sun set and polar night started, the sky lighting up with the moon and northern lights rather than the sun. But time truly doesn't go by any faster than when you are having the time of your life. I am so excited that the semester ending doesn't mean the end of my time in Svalbard, because I am studying at UNIS until June.

Experiencing Work Culture in Kansai

So, frankly, my perspective has changed quite a bit since my last blog post. My time in Japan previously both traveling and as a student did not prepare me for the Japanese workplace in the way I thought it would. This was to be expected, but here I am. There's been a lot of challenges for me in terms of feeling like I can't be myself at all and very much attempting to put myself into the typical office worker box in order to 'conform' because otherwise I feel like I will be scolded or something bad will happen to me.